Izaya Orihara
Izaya Orihara is a powerful and skilled underground information broker. He usually gives information for his own enjoyment, and claims to love the entire human race, excluding Shizuo Heiwajima. He's currently an associate with the Tandeki Group. Izaya comes from the light novel/manga/anime Durarara and the Wonderland series. Appearance and Personality (From Durarara Wikia) Appearance He has the appearance and expression of one who is extremely devious and manipulative with his black hair and red eyes. He is repeatedly described as a handsome man with a beautiful face by other characters in the novels. His regular outfit consists of a black coat that goes down to his hips, with grey fur lining the edges along with a plain black T-shirt and pants and dark brown shoes. In the novels, he occasionally dons a longer version of his coat that reaches down to his ankles while in the anime he exclusively uses the shorter version. In one OVA episode, he is shown to wear a lighter short-sleeved hoodie in warmer weather. Personality He claims to love humanity although his definition of "love" is much different than one would assume. What he specifically loves about humanity is the unpredictability of human nature and greatly enjoys putting people in enjoyable or chaotic situations in order to observe their reactions. With a thorough understanding of human behavior and tendencies, he is able to determine people's thoughts and predict their reactions with high accuracy. Izaya is cunning and charming but his manipulative nature prevents him from making any genuine or lasting bonds with others. He has a very jolly and mocking personality, speaking informally with most people as if they are close friends and often using nicknames (such as "Shizu-chan" for Shizuo and "Dotachin" for Kyohei Kadota). He even talks like a girl on occasion, especially online where he actually does pretend to be female. He plays on both sides, so that whoever wins, he will have an advantage. He claims to love humanity although his definition of "love" is much different than one would assume. What he specifically loves about humanity is the unpredictability of human nature and greatly enjoys putting people in enjoyable or chaotic situations in order to observe their reactions. With a thorough understanding of human behavior and tendencies, he is able to determine people's thoughts and predict their reactions with high accuracy. Izaya is cunning and charming but his manipulative nature prevents him from making any genuine or lasting bonds with others. He has a very jolly and mocking personality, speaking informally with most people as if they are close friends and often using nicknames (such as "Shizu-chan" for Shizuo and "Dotachin" for Kyohei Kadota). He even talks like a girl on occasion, especially online where he actually does pretend to be female. He plays on both sides, so that whoever wins, he will have an advantage. Although Izaya enjoys conflict, often showing up wherever there is potential for one, he usually stays out of it, preferring to observe the fight instead of directly taking part in it. However, when provoked, he quickly puts his opponent in his place, simply proving his superiority without actually beating the other person. Therefore he is usually seen as the one starting fights, but hiding in the shadows instead of directly taking part. He uses a flickblade and is skilled in parkour. Izaya is also known to be one of the strongest men in Ikebukuro, although the title of strongest man belongs to Shizuo Heiwajima. When Mikado Ryuugamine first came to Ikebukuro, Izaya was one of the people Kida Masaomi warned him to stay away from, simply describing Izaya as "dangerous." Back Story Up until middle school in Raijin Academy, Izaya was a model student: the vice president of the elementary student council, the star at sports meetings, and winning independent research awards, poetry awards, slogan awards, and participated in essay contests. This combined with his good looks and a respectable family made him well known, especially with his girl classmates. However, Izaya was not particularly loved or hated since he went through school life in a withdrawn state, preferring to observe everything from afar, carrying out his life philosophy to be 'neither too close nor too far' from the others. During afternoon breaks and such, other students would talk in the classroom or play in the courtyard, but since Izaya would always be in the library, he gave people the impression that he was a loner. But Izaya enjoyed being a step away from his surroundings. He knew he was a top student, however, he didn't think the people around him were idiots and didn't look down on them. At this point, his observations were not used for ill, rather a simple hobby, but slowly it was turning more and more into an obsession. His chaotic life changed after meeting fellow middle school student, Shinra, who immediately assessed Izaya's personality and tried to convince Izaya into creating a biology club. At first, he declined his offer and after that, he continued living the same life he had in elementary school, while keeping an eye on the human called Kishitani Shinra, but one day he suddenly understood: Shinra was his opposite because unlike Izaya, he had no interest at all in human beings. This confused Izaya who eventually agreed to become the Vice President of Shinra's club so he could study him more closely. When a club expo was scheduled, Shinra left their presentation entirely in Izaya's hands and, much to Shinra's surprise, Izaya turned the whole club into a gambling ring with one of the other members, Nakura, serving as Izaya's business partner. Shinra tells Izaya to stop but gets brushed off each time. One day, after making a bad bet, Nakura comes in brandishing a knife and threatens Izaya to give back all the money he lost. When Izaya refused, Shinra jumped in the way of the knife at the last minute. It is then that Izaya realizes he is extremely jealous of Shinra because of his ability to separate himself from the world because of his love for Celty. Izaya then asks Shinra to tell everyone that Izaya himself was the attacker and promises to make Nakura pay for as long as possible for what he did. After the incident, Izaya is taken into protective custody and, from then on, continues to create an infamous reputation. He was later enrolled in Raijin Academy High School with Shizuo, Shinra and Kadota; although, Izaya rarely attended class. He shares a passionate hatred for Shizuo and from nearly the moment they met they tried to kill each other. Izaya claims Shizuo is the only human he does not love and wouldn't mind seeing him dead. Shizuo tries to kill him every time they meet on the street, meaning Izaya often finds random vending machines, trash cans and other large objects flying straight at him. Shizuo finds him untrustworthy, saying whenever there is trouble, "99% of the time you're (Izaya) behind it." Izaya had often framed Shizuo for crimes he didn't commit, causing him no end of trouble. During one of their more hectic confrontations, Kine, an high ranking member of the Awakusu was caught in the crossfire. Kine managed to dissolve the conflict but took an interest in Izaya who was just starting out as in information broker at the time. Through Kine, Izaya met many of his first clients in the Yakuza and was his official contact with the Awakusu. During this period, Izaya began to collect "followers" for his own purposes, most of which were traumatized teenage girls, ranging from gothic lolitas to gyarus (though the majority of them simply took Izaya to be a fortune teller of sorts) who would do whatever he said and worshiped him in an almost cult-like fashion (like Saki). Most of these girls were usually depressed and/or suicidal and had all been victims of pretty severe levels of violence from their families or lovers. Those girls were lost and desperate for someone to believe in, making them especially easy to use. They weren't really in love with the families or boyfriends concerned, they simply put their faith in them. All Izaya did was shift that faith towards him. If he wanted them to die, they would probably have gone ahead and did it, even if they had doubts. Izaya's fans had conflicts between students in several Ikebukuro high schools, leading to a protracted period of unrest. One notable incident involved Mikage Sharaku, a classmate who became one of Izaya's followers due to a crush she had on him. The exact details of the event are unclear but it resulted in Mikage's expulsion and caused her to develop a grudge against him for several years. Two years before the start of the series, Izaya met Masaomi Kida, the leader of a local gang known as the Yellow Scarves, through one of his more frequent customers, Saki Mikajima. In desperation, Masaomi asked for Izaya's help regarding a gang war with another gang known as the Blue Squares. Izaya assisted Masaomi initially, but after Saki was kidnapped, Izaya suddenly ceased all contact with Masaomi which resulted in the Yellow Scarves being defeated and Saki severely injured. It is revealed that Izaya had manipulated these events by playing both sides against each other. He verbally taunted Masaomi after he visited Saki in the hospital. He is also a member of the Dollars. Although Mikado Ryuugamine is the leader of the gang, Izaya is the one who anonymously recruited most of their members when Mikado stopped doing it, sending out invitations saying the Dollars have no rules except that you have to say you are one of them. Izaya is usually seen talking about the latest rumors of gangs, urban myths, and otherwise stirring up trouble in online chatrooms while at the same time pretending to be a girl. His screen names are "Kanra" and "Nakura" (with "Nakura" possibly being derived from his business partner in high school), and most recently, "Chrome." Storyline History Distorted Wonderland Izaya advises against Namie destroying the doll in his office. He tells her about the curse behind the Isobe Murders and tries to find out who is behind all of the strange deaths and the curse and why. Wonderland Carnival Izaya sends Namie and a handful of interns to go check out Kinko Sekai Apartment and its curse. He became excited when half of the team, including Namie, either turned up dead or disappeared. He assured one of the remaining female interns that the curse is fake and she has nothing to worry about. Izaya later talks to someone from the Tandeki Group about joining on his terms. Happy Wonderland Izaya is kept out of the loop by Tandeki. He knows that they will eventually kill him once he's all used up. The best thing he can do is prove himself useful enough to preserve his longevity. Izaya is seen asking Noriko about her past in an attempt to break her down before Chiharu comes along and pulls her away. Later, he and Michiko talk in one of his apartments. She warns him about Tandeki and he taunts her about someone dear to her, resulting in him dodging a knife to the head. In "Kitano", Kitano reveals to Izaya a little biit about his past and shows him Chirin's patient file. In "Angel", Izaya and Osamu help Junko check the security system of the cages in the basement of Rampo Biotech. Deep Blue Wonderland Relationships Tandeki Group Main Article: Tandeki Group Izaya is an associate of the group, but they do not trust him. In fact, he knows that they will eventually kill him once he is all used up to them. For now, Izaya is spying on them and proving himself useful enough to survive. Kitano Main Article: Kitano Kitano and Izaya shared a short conversation together in Kitano's office. Izaya is the second person to learn about Kitano's past. Despite this, he knows that the boss will eventually kill him when he is all used up. Mari Otomo Main Article: Mari Otomo Shizuo Heiwajima Conflict is the very core and definition of the relationship between them. From the second they first met in highschool, the two of them have been at each other's throats. Their constant battles have become common place in Ikebukuro to the point that even the police have long since given up trying to apprehend Shizuo for the destruction he causes simply because it happens so often. The two of them are almost complete opposites of each other both physically and mentally. While Izaya is a calm and (mostly) collected individual who remains emotionally detached from most situations, Shizuo reacts impulsively on almost every single turn, causing him to go on a blind rampage. Where Izaya tends to use his superior agility and precise planning to get what he wants, Shizuo almost exclusively uses brute force to achieve his goals. While both methods have proven to be effective, Shizuo tends to leave a lot more destruction in his wake that causes problems for him in the long run. While Shizuo frequently expresses a strong desire to murder Izaya in the most painful way possible, he is, ironically, the less agressive of the two of them. This is pointed out by Shizuo himself in Volume 9 of the Light novels where he explains that while killing him would be rather satisfying, he would be perfectly content if Izaya simply stayed out of his life completely. This is further evidenced by the fact that in almost all of their fights, It's Izaya who throws the first punch. Even when Shizuo is the one to attack first, it's usually because he believes that Izaya had provoked him in some way. Izaya hates Shizuo about as much as Shizuo hates him, although he is a lot better at controlling it out in the open. It's made clear that he doesn't even consider Shizuo human by his standards, considering him closer to that of an animal than anything else. As such, he gets extremely annoyed when Shizuo actually shows some sign of intelligence or maturity. It also seems that, between the two of them, Izaya appears to be the most fixated on their rivalry. This is shown in that Izaya frequently goes out of his way to antagonize Shizuo in some way whether it be a simple prank or framing him for murder. Towards the end of volume 12, Izaya reveals a bit more about why he seems so fixated on Shizuo. The first reason is that since he sees Shizuo as nothing more than a monster, Izaya feels extreme jealousy at Shizuo's ability to unwittingly attract others to him. This jealousy is further increased since Shizuo seems to try to isolate himself most of the time yet still manages to make new friends while Izaya remains shunned despite his attempts to connect with others in the only way he knows how. Izaya also holds the belief that only humans possess the ability to slay monsters. Following this line of thinking, Izaya believes that if he manages to defeat, or even kill Shizuo, he thinks it might make him feel more human. Shinra Kishitani Main Article: Shinra Kishitani Izaya and Shinra were classmates in Raijin Middle School. On the first day of school, Shinra approached Izaya to invite him to found a Biology Club, for his interest being "human observation." Izaya at first rejects the idea, but becomes intrigued with Shinra as a person. After doing some questioning around with other students, Izaya realizes that Shinra is the opposite of him--having no interest in humans, unlike himself. Wanting to know why Shinra held such disinterest towards humans, Izaya finally agrees to join as the Vice President of the club. The Biology club is created as merely a front: Shinra uses it for the excuse to have a friend (thus earning the approval of his 'beloved'), while Izaya uses it for Baseball gambling with other students. When Shinra finds out about the gambling, he tries to dissuade Izaya out of it. Nakura, a member of the gambling ring, desperate to get the money back that he'd lost, suddenly comes in to attack Izaya, but Shinra jumps in between and ends up getting stabbed as a result. Izaya takes the blame for the incident and uses it to continually blackmail Nakura through the series. Izaya attributes this event as something that helped shaped his personalty. He'd felt envy toward his friend who seemed to be "watching humans from a different plane." They later both attend Raijin High school, where Izaya meets Shinra's elementary school friend, Shizuo, and begins a mortal rivalry. After High school, Izaya is seen occasionally hanging out with Shinra at Raira University, though the latter is not a student. Currently, Izaya believes he isn't an important friend to Shinra, as he treats Celty as his top priority in life. An example of this is when Izaya tried to contact Shinra over the phone while at the hospital. Shinra hung up on him because he was too busy trying to enjoy his date with Celty (especially after having been continually interrupted by other callers). As a result, when it was Shinra's turn to be hospitalized, Izaya decided to also give him the cold shoulder. Nevertheless, at various points in the novels, it is revealed that Shinra is the only person that Izaya actually considers a friend, and not just one of his "humans." Kisuke Adabashi, the man who injured Shinra, was eventually caught by Izaya's gang and kept confined at his apartment until he escaped by the series' end. Likewise, Shinra views Izaya as one of his only friends, and constantly defends him in front of Shizuo and Celty, even though he knows that "there's not a single ounce of goodness in him." Mikado Ryuugamine Main Article: Mikado Ryuugamine Izaya and Mikado met on the internet. However, Mikado does not know who 'Kanra' is in real life at first. Mikado met Izaya face to face on Mikado's second day in Ikebukuro. Izaya knows that Mikado is the leader of the Dollars, but promises not to sell the information to anyone, however he doesn't keep this promise exactly. Instead of selling the information, he gives it away to Kida Masaomi for free. In the manga Izaya tells Mikado that it wasn't a coincidence that he met him - he was looking for him. Later in the novels, Mikado begins to rely on Izaya's information and advice. This is similar to how Masaomi depended on Izaya to lead the Yellow Scarves which eventually led to his downfall; Vol. 7 foreshadows that Mikado will be led down a dark path because of Izaya. However, in the same novel, Aoba reveals that both he and Izaya have grossly underestimated Mikado. Mairu & Kururi Orihara Kururi and Mairu are Izaya's younger twin sisters. They grew up in the same house as Izaya, where all three siblings are said to have had "fairly normal parents." Izaya believes that their eccentricities are because of his influence on them, having told them as children that they were copies of each other and therefore had no real purpose. When they were younger, he often had to take care of them because their parents were almost always working abroad. Izaya states that aside from Shizuo, they are the only humans that he doesn't know how to deal with, which may explain why he's annoyed by them. While Mairu and Kururi are inseparable, their feelings on the elder brother are not as clear-alternately stating that they still consider him family, but also saying they wouldn't mind killing him and throwing his dead body in the garbage to meet their idol: "Hanejima Yuuhei", Shizuo's younger brother. Izaya himself has shown some affection for his sisters when he sent Celty to stop some thugs from picking on Kururi, he claims that he only did this because he needed to distraction for a job, however he also sent Eijirou after some other thugs who were after Mairu when it was not necessary. Namie Yagiri Main Article: Namie Yagiri Izaya and Namie had a complex relationship. Although Namie approaches Izaya in order to prevent herself from being arrested, she despised Izaya. Namie is the only person Izaya had no problems sharing his plans with despite Namie's indifference towards Izaya. Regardless of their feelings toward one another, both Izaya and Namie seem to have grudgingly accepted each other as the closest they'll get to normal human interaction. Saki Mikajima Main Article: Saki Mikajima Izaya was like a guardian to Saki and took care of her before she left with Kida. Saki looks up to Izaya as an admiration figure to the point that she is mesmerized by him. He does use her admiration towards him to his advantage even instructing her to get kidnapped which resulted with her legs being broken. However he still visited her in the hospital which he ordered her to stay there for a year. Despite his twisted and manipulative ways, he did have a form of attachment towards her as he appeared to be genuinely sad when she left him and went with Kida as she was one of the few characters that actually liked Izaya. Saki's attachment towards him is still there as she is grateful to him for bringing her and Kida together. Celty Sturluson Due to her job as a underground transporter, Izaya is in charge of giving Celty her missions. However, Celty doesn't like Izaya in general due to the manipulative tactics he used. She always suspects him of being involved with many of the major events that happen in the city and doesn't trust him at all. In turn, Izaya considers Celty to be one of many different pawns at his disposal. After obtaining Celty's head, Izaya tried to start a gang war to see if this war would awaken Celty's head. Despite this, Celty helps save Izaya's life after he was seriously injured during his fight against Shizuo. Masaomi Kida Main article: Masaomi Kida Izaya is fond of tormenting Masaomi ever since he first met him. He even used Saki to further this hell during the first conflict between the Blue Squares and the Yellow Scarves in the light novel/manga/anime. Now that he is with Tandeki, there is no telling what Izaya will pull now. Trivia * His name comes from a combination of the biblical Isaiah and Japanese for "the one who looks over the crowd". * He can speak Russian with Simon, usually proverbs, along with English. * His favorite food is fatty tuna. He prefers foods that taste bitter, and dislikes sweets and conserved food. Although not shown yet, his fervor of humanity observation is stated to be reflected in attempt of analyzing people through their prefers and preparation of food. * He dislikes Shizuo Heiwajima and eyes of dead fish. * He is a light sleeper. * He has (at least) ten cell phones. * Izaya's nickname for Shizuo, "Shizu-chan", wasn't actually made by Izaya himself. He heard about Shizuo from a girl who used to be in Shizuo's elementary school who referred to him as "Shizu-chan". Izaya initially suspected Shizuo to be a girl until someone explained who he was. * Izaya is shown watching Hanamaru Kindergarten in the anime. * In the novel, from Mikado's perspective, it is stated that he found Izaya's appearance rather odd for a man of his age, regarding style. And that he seemed different from the rest, since Izaya didn't seem to find an interest in appealing to the culture's fashion. * He is an atheist, stating that there is no proof that God exists. Regardless, due to following events and his plans, he takes a primarily agnostic view of afterlife later. * His eyes are sometimes stated as reddish-brown, however, in the anime his eye color is just brown. * In one of the Baccano light novels, Boss Buraido mentions exchanging information with "Orihara of Shinjuku" who is obviously Izaya. * Izaya's seiyuu, Hiroshi Kamiya, also did the voice acting of Hiroomi Souma from the anime Working!!, mostly known for his ability to find people's secrets and makes them to do his job by threatening them using the secret, similar to Izaya's ability to gather information and his ability to make people do as he planned, respectively. Also, Hiroomi likes to observe people ever since he was a kid, similar to how Izaya really likes human observation. In the series, Hiroomi states that "Cell phones are wonderful things", and Izaya is known to have ten different cell phones. * In Working!!, one of the very few people on whom Hiroomi's blackmailing doesn't quite work is Sato Jun, his partner in the kitchen. Jun has blonde (dyed) hair, is a heavy smoker, and the reason he does not give to the blackmailing is because he freaks Hiroomi out when he tries by hitting or hurting him in some way, usually with cooking utensils. He is voiced by Ono Daisuke, who also voices Shizuo Heiwajima. * Izaya is known as a Internet Troll, the series taking a strong hold of realism when it comes to societal behavior. Fans of the series comically call him Trollzaya. The Japanese fandom called him Uzaya, coming from uzai which means annoying. * He has been quoted to weigh himself after his every day baths. * Izaya has stated in the novels that he does not hold an attraction for any individual. Though, it is hinted in the novel that he may or may not have had something with Mikage in high school. Narita has been quoted saying that Izaya has normal sexual urges, although he may possibly be aromantic. * His favorite quote is: "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." - Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan. * He sang Subarashii Hibi in the rapping CD. * All of Izaya's online handles are "borrowed" from other people. * In the anime, Izaya's coat is about as long as his hips. However, in the novels most of the artwork depicts his coat as reaching his ankles. In manga he's seen with both long and short version of the coat. * Izaya Orihara's birthday is on May 4th while his voice actor Hiroshi Kamiya's birthday is on January 28th. However, Shizuo's birthday is January 28th while his voice actor Ono Daisuke's birthday is May 4th. * A fan asked Narita Ryohgo (creator of Durarara!!) if Izaya had any past love experiences and Narita replied that if he answered that question, it would be a bit of a "spoiler". * His voice actor, Hiroshi Kamiya, and Shizuo's voice actor, Daisuke Ono, are actually best friends in real life. * Izaya, alongside Shizuo and Celty, are set to appear in Devil Survivor 2: Break Record as downloadable demons for a limited time. * Izaya has at least three apartments Category:Wonderland Characters Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Canon Characters Category:Human Category:Tandeki Group Category:Human Villians Category:Antagonists